After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy

On May 21, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered remarks at The Heritage Foundation titled "After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy." He outlined the way forward following the President’s decision to withdraw from participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In his first major foreign policy address as Secretary of State, Pompeo presented a roadmap to achieve a new security framework that counters the Iranian regime’s malign activities in the region, blocks their financing of terror, and addresses Iran’s proliferation of missiles and other advanced weapons systems that threaten peace and stability.

Here are some highlights from the Secretary’s remarks:

The JCPOA Had Fatal Flaws

The Secretary stated that the JCPOA had fatal flaws, including weak sunset provisions that merely delayed the inevitable nuclear weapons capability of the Iranian regime.

.@SecPompeo: #JCPOA permitted the Iranian regime to use money from the JCPOA to boost the economic fortunes of a struggling people. The regime’s leaders refused to do so. Instead the govt. spent its newfound treasure fueling proxy wars across the Middle East. #PompeoAtHeritagepic.twitter.com/05rpdXHESd

.@SecPompeo: In the strategy we are announcing today, we want the support of our most important allies & partners in region & around globe. We welcome any nation which is sick & tired of the nuclear threats & brutality of a regime at peace w/ inflicting chaos on innocent people. pic.twitter.com/eY0pbe7LCI

Secretary Pompeo highlighted the many shortcomings of the JCPOA saying, “the bet that the JCPOA would increase Middle East stability was a bad one for America, for Europe, for the Middle East, and indeed for the entire world. It is clear that the JCPOA has not ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions, nor did it deter its quest for a regional hegemony. Iran’s leaders saw the deal as the starting gun for the march across the Middle East.”

#Iran could have used the money from #JCPOA to boost the economic fortunes of a struggling people. Instead the regime spent it fueling proxy wars & lining the pockets of #IRGC, #Hizballah & #Hamas. Iran advanced its march across the Middle East during JCPOA.

.@SecPompeo: We will cont. to work w/our allies to counter the regime’s destabilizing activities in the region, block their financing of terror & address #Iran’s proliferation of missiles. We will also ensure Iran has no possible path to a nuclear weapon – ever. #PompeoAtHeritagepic.twitter.com/hrWlrVfRPt

.@SecPompeo outlined a clear strategy on #Iran today. The Iranian regime must make major changes: no nuclear program, no support for destabilizing activities in the region. We stand with the citizens of Iran. We will work with our allies, and we will protect the American people.

Secretary Pompeo reiterated, “As President Trump said two weeks ago, he is ready, willing, and able to negotiate a new deal. But the deal is not the objective. Our goal is to protect the American people.”

.@POTUS withdrew from #JCPOA for a simple reason: it failed to guarantee the safety of the American people from the risks created by #Iran’s leaders.

.@SecPompeo: In the strategy we are announcing today, we want the support of our most important allies & partners in region & around globe. We welcome any nation which is sick & tired of the nuclear threats & brutality of a regime at peace w/ inflicting chaos on innocent people. pic.twitter.com/eY0pbe7LCI

As he concluded, the Secretary urged Iranian leaders to change course in the interests of the Iranian people, who long to pursue the freedoms and opportunities of the 21st century. <

.@SecPompeo: Next year marks 40th anniversary of Islamic Revolution in #Iran. At this milestone we have to ask: what has Iranian Revolution given the Iranian people? The regime reaps a harvest of suffering & death in the Middle East at expense of its own people. #PompeoAtHeritagepic.twitter.com/1astzYkrlf

.@SecPompeo: It is America’s hope that our labors toward peace & security will bear fruit for the long-suffering people of #Iran. We long to see them prosper & flourish as in decades past, and as never before. Today, the #USA is proud to take a new course towards that objective. pic.twitter.com/Yw3Wv3W25P

SecPompeo: Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in #Iran At this milestone we have to ask: what has the revolution given the Iranian people در آستانه چهلمین سالگرد انقلاب اسلامی باید پرسید این انقلاب چه دستاوردی برای مردم ایران داشته pic.twitter.com/1bIR7oMrto